abel-mizraim Summary and Overview

meadow of Egypt, or mourning of Egypt, a place "beyond," i.e., on the west of Jordan, at the "threshing-floor of Atad." Here the Egyptians mourned seventy days for Jacob (Gen. 50:4-11). Its site is unknown.

(meadow of Egypt), the name given by the Canaanites to the floor of Atad, at which Joseph, his brothers and the Egyptians made their mourning for Jacob. #Ge 50:11| It was beyond (on the east of) Jordan. See ATAD. (Schaff and others say it was on the west bank, for the writer was on the east of Jordan. It was near Jericho, or perhaps Hebron.)

A'BEL-MIZ'RAIM (meadow of Egypt), a name given by the Canaanites to the floor of Atad, where Joseph mourned for his father, Jacob. Gen 50:11. It was "beyond " -- that is, west of -- the Jordan, as the writer was on the east side. Some place it at Beth-hoglah, or near Jericho; others think it was near Hebron.

("the mourning of the Egyptians" or "the funeral from Egypt".) The threshingfloor of Atad; so called by the Canaanites, because it was the chief scene of the funeral laments of Joseph and his Egyptian retinue for Jacob (Genesis 50:4-11). E. of Jordan. Moses, taking Canaan as the central standpoint of the whole history, uses the phrase "beyond Jordan" for east of it. The same route by which Joseph was led captive was, in the striking providence of God, that which they took to do honor to his deceased father, being the longer and more public way from Egypt to Canaan. God's eternal principle is, "them that honor Me I will honor." Jerome, however, places it at Beth-Hogla, now Ain Hajla, on the W. of Jordan, which would make Moses' standpoint in saying "beyond" the E. of Jordan; but Genesis 50:13 plainly shows it was not till after the mourning at Abel-Mizraim that "Jacob's sons carried him into the land of Canaan." The phrase, "Joseph spake unto the house of Pharaoh" implies that Pharaoh and his estates in council decreed a state funeral for Jacob, in which the princes, nobles, and chief men of Egypt, with their pomp of chariots and equipages, took part. The funeral celebration lasted for seven days. The usual Egyptian rites on such occasions consisted in banquets and games, as Egyptian monuments show. These having been completed at Atad, Jacob's sons proceeded alone to the cave of Machpelah, the final burying place of his embalmed body.